At this time, the moon hadn't risen yet. Only the sky full of stars twinkled brightly. The night breeze carried the chirping of cicadas and the croaking of frogs, making it very pleasant.
Ignoring the annoying mosquitoes, that is.
Han Qingsong took large strides, and as soon as they exited the courtyard gate, she couldn't keep up. He didn't seem to have any intention of waiting for her either, walking briskly ahead and disappearing in a moment!
Lin Lan had originally wanted to take advantage of the beautiful night scenery to chat with him about life, but as a result... what a waste of such a good starry night.
By the time she reached the small house, Lin Lan was already panting and couldn't help but complain, "Couldn't you walk a bit slower?"
Han Qingsong asked in surprise, "Why didn't you say you were coming?"
Lin Lan: ...
"Didn't you ask me to come along?" This man was truly dull enough.
Han Qingsong: "I said I was coming to tidy up, it's dirty."
Forget it, she wouldn't reason with him. She felt this man truly didn't know how to speak, and she didn't know if he was born this way or just bad at expressing himself.
Han Qingsong lit the oil lamp and placed it in the lamp niche. He already had a clear idea of what was where.
Lin Lan looked around. Seeing he wasn't speaking, she looked here and there herself, fiddling with this and that.
Lin Lan: "Say it out loud!" What's the point of muttering in your own heart.
Han Qingsong looked at her. "You want to hear?"
"It's the room I'm going to live in, of course I want to hear."
Do the men in your family, no, the men in your whole village, not have the habit of discussing problems with their laopo?
This is clearly a family matter, alright? How does muttering in your own heart count?
This was indeed the consistent style of local men; they didn't care to discuss matters with women.
Han Qingsong hadn't expected her to want to hear this, so he explained to her about making a false ceiling for the roof. First, they would use vitex branches to tie a frame, and then use mats or something as the false ceiling. The walls around the kang also needed to be treated, otherwise they would be damp and the plaster would peel. If conditions permitted, they could just nail bamboo mats to them; it would look nice and be clean.
"There's a kind of grass cloth. In summer, if you paste it on the windows, it lets the breeze in but keeps mosquitoes out, and it can also be used to make mosquito nets."
Hearing him mention mosquitoes, Lin Lan subconsciously scratched the bite on her neck. These mosquitoes were truly ruthless, like the old lady, nagging endlessly, and it still itched even now.
If they had a mosquito net, that would be great.
The old Han family only had two mosquito nets, both given to the xiaogu and xiaoshu. The mosquito nets of the first and second branches were their dowries. The original owner's niangjia was terribly poor, and she had no dowry at all back then, so naturally, she had no mosquito net.
Not only did she have no dowry, but even the clothes she wore belonged to the old Han family. It was truly too shabby.
This was also one of the reasons why the old lady and Han-ersao looked down on the original owner so much.
Later, the original owner also had a mosquito net, which Han Qingsong secretly gave her from the army.
However, in order to compete and show off against her third older sister, the original owner took it back to her niangjia to save face. As a result, she and the children had nothing to use and were bitten all over every year.
"That's great." Lin Lan was very happy.
Han Qingsong stopped talking again.
In the narrow room, although there was no furniture, it wasn't spacious either. Under the dim light, a lone man and a lone woman—Lin Lan felt a bit nervous.
She quickly found a topic. "Um, are you really going to transfer to civilian work?"
Han Qingsong turned to look at her. His pitch-black eyes were like a bottomless pit, making one's heart flutter. "Wasn't it you who insisted I transfer?"
Lin Lan swallowed hard. Right, it's me, it's me, it's still me! I'm taking the blame for the original owner!
"Um, can you not transfer? I now feel... accompanying the army is quite good." Her voice was a bit weak. After all, back then, the original owner made a huge fuss, not hesitating to threaten suicide, just to force Han Qingsong to transfer back, so as to eliminate the possibility of him climbing a higher branch and divorcing her.
"It's too late," Han Qingsong said.
Lin Lan's heart tightened. He wasn't blaming her, was he? But his tone was very flat, not like he was angry or complaining. According to the plot, he was disheartened, so was this regret?
"Why is it too late? Haven't you not submitted the application yet? The leaders asked you to consider it, you..." Before she could finish, Lin Lan bit her tongue. She had gotten confused in her anxiety, how could she blurt out the plot?
It was all because his aura was too strong, giving people too much pressure.
She was under a lot of pressure ah.
Han Qingsong looked at her, his gaze probing and focused.
Lin Lan coughed. "Well, you didn't give the old lady a definitive answer, which means there's still room for maneuver."
According to Han Qingsong's style, if he were truly transferring, he should have said it decisively and neatly. This attitude clearly meant there was room for consideration.
Han Qingsong was even more surprised. When did she learn to read people?
"If you accompany the army, aren't you afraid anymore?"
Lin Lan: "Afraid of what?" I'm only afraid at home, afraid I won't be able to resist whipping the old lady to death!
Han Qingsong didn't speak, but the corners of his lips twitched, the meaning somehow carrying a hint of intrigue.
Lin Lan suddenly realized why. The original owner was afraid he would divorce her and marry someone else.
She herself, of course, wasn't afraid. Divorce? What was there to be afraid of? Divorce would be great. It would be best if they arranged a job for her, then she could...
Just as she was having beautiful thoughts, her vision suddenly darkened. Han Qingsong was standing right in front of her.
The distance was a bit close. The strong masculine energy emanating from him carried an oppressive aura, making it hard for her to bear. She subconsciously took a step back. "If you have something to say, say it nicely, don't get agitated."
Han Qingsong's voice was deep. "Have you ever seen me agitated?"
Actually, no.
Even when "she" secretly carried Sanwang and ran to the army to complain, making a scene in the army compound, suspiciously trying to catch vixens, and becoming a laughingstock for the whole army, he still spoke to her in a good-tempered manner. He wasn't agitated at all, let alone hit or scold her, not even a word of blame.
Speaking of which, although he looked cold, hard, and serious, he was actually gentle toward people. Unlike some men who looked amiable but ended up either cursing or beating their laopo.
"Hehe." She laughed dryly.
Her own aura was too small; she had to pull it back and couldn't let him suppress her.
She cleared her throat. "That's because you didn't do enough. If you did enough and gave me a sense of security, would I still..."
"What does 'doing enough' and 'giving you a sense of security' mean?" Han Qingsong looked at her with a deep gaze.
He already had thick eyebrows and deep eyes, rarely smiling, and naturally carried an air of authority when looking at people. Right now, his gaze was even more cold, stern, and intimidating.
Lin Lan didn't dare to look directly at him. "Look, there are so many pretty female soldiers in the art troupe in your army, and pretty female nurses and doctors in the army hospital. It's said that many people are interested in you. Furthermore, you never guaranteed that you would definitely live a good life with me forever..."
"I said, a woman who bears children for me, Han Qingsong, no matter what mistakes she makes, I will protect her for a lifetime. Don't you remember?"
Lin Lan thought about it. He seemed to have said this, but the original owner didn't remember it clearly. Moreover, the original owner misinterpreted "protect for a lifetime" as him feeling guilty, a guarantee that he would protect her even after a divorce. Naturally, she wouldn't accept that.
The original owner had a characteristic: she easily got stuck in a dead end and couldn't get out. No matter what he said, she firmly believed that he was good-looking and had a bright future, and countless pretty women in the army fancied him. She heard that a cadre's guinv had taken a liking to Han Qingsong and might want him to divorce or something.
Lin Lan felt she could still struggle a bit. "I didn't recognize this problem clearly, that's my fault. But you don't understand the situation at home. I have conflicts with the old lady, and you can't blame it all on me. I'm raising five children at home, of course I want to have a few yuan on hand to buy something to coax the children occasionally."
"Did I blame you?" Han Qingsong grew even more puzzled.
Seeing him so innocent, Lin Lan started to self-reflect again. He truly hadn't blamed her. This time, when the old lady and Han-ersao complained, he didn't listen to only one side, nor did he utter a single word of blame toward her.
Speaking of the past, he didn't seem to have blamed the original owner either.
But counting the time since they got married, he came back once every two or three years? At most, he stayed for five days; at least, he stayed for one night. It would be strange if he knew anything.
Lin Lan also found it strange. With such limited contact, probably not even five times, they actually had five children. It was truly... hitting the mark every single time.
She was unwilling to accept defeat. If she lost the first round, wouldn't she be suppressed by him forever?
"Anyway, it's just wrong. You give all the allowance to them, why do the children and I not get a single cent? Don't the children need to go to school? Don't they need to save money to marry a xifu in the future?" Lin Lan threw out her trump card.
"Didn't you want to withdraw money, so your name was added later? Half for each?"
That time he went to the Sino-Indian border to execute a mission and was severely injured while saving his squad. He returned to the provincial military region hospital to recuperate and received a phone call from Lu Jinxiu. He said the family had sent several telegrams saying his xifu was making a fuss at home demanding money, and if she didn't get it, she would jump into the river and commit suicide. So he asked Lu Jinxiu to tell logistics to send two portions. But later, logistics found it troublesome and directly put two names on one remittance slip, so they could still take half each.
"You did say that, but the old lady wouldn't give it to me."
When the remittance slip arrived, the old lady always went to withdraw it. Although the original owner wanted to withdraw the money, she didn't dare to confront the old lady directly. She just wanted to make a fuss, act up, and then have the old lady voluntarily give her the money. How could the old lady possibly be so kind-hearted?
Han Qingsong looked at her. Although he didn't speak, Lin Lan automatically interpreted it as: Then how did you withdraw it this time?
Mommy, she had previously said Han Qingsong had low emotional intelligence and was a bit foolish, but how was he waiting for her at every step?
In the past, the original owner was unreasonable and didn't know. Now that they were seriously reasoning, he actually...
"What's the point of you bullying a woman," Lin Lan decided to act shamelessly. "It was your fault to begin with. Since my name was already added, why didn't you just send two portions directly, so each could collect one? Is there any reasoning between fuqi? Even if you win, it's not necessarily glorious."
To save face, she snorted, turned, and walked away, not wanting to argue with him anymore.
Han Qingsong: "..."
When Lin Lan went out, she ran into the children who had come out to catch cicada nymphs.
Sanwang was running blindly after Dawang, and Lin Lan couldn't even call him back.
"Niang, dage and I are going to Zhuzi's house to sleep, you don't need to miss us."
This old niang doesn't care to miss you brats!
Lin Lan went home in a huff. Xiaowang was already asleep, hugging a torn towel.
Maisui looked aggrieved. "Niang, someone threw away Xiaowang's Maomao. He was crying earth-shatteringly just now, insisting someone killed his Maomao. He only agreed to sleep after finding it."
Lin Lan: ... Can't you guys just give it a rest.
Maomao was just a torn towel, so torn you couldn't even tell its color or pattern, full of holes and knots.
That was Xiaowang's Maomao. When sleeping at night or noon, if his niang wasn't there to coax him, he absolutely had to have Maomao.
A typical fetish.
Lin Lan didn't interfere much; anyway, he would be fine when he grew up.
Who knew Han Qingsong didn't know this. When he returned to the room to wash his hands before dinner today, he saw it, thought it was a rag, washed it, and hung it on the windowsill outside to dry.
He was originally being diligent, but Lin Lan, in a fit of anger, criticized him in her mind. Although he has five children, he doesn't understand the disposition of a single one!
However, rationally speaking, he had been a soldier outside for so many years, risking his life countless times. Thinking about it, it was understandable. With the rationality of a modern person, she still had great respect for soldiers.
But it's easy to talk when it's not your problem. As a military family member who didn't accompany the army, only she knew the bitterness and hardship.
When Han Qingsong returned, he went to the main room and spoke a few words with the old lady. The old lady was troubled, seeing that his transfer was set in stone, and he refused to coax her. She was so angry her head hurt and went to bed early.
Han Qingsong returned to the room and found the children sleeping in the middle, leaving an empty space at both the head and the foot of the kang. He hesitated for a moment.
Does this mean I should sleep at the head of the kang?
Just as he was about to get on the kang, Lin Lan suddenly sat up, quickly pulled Xiaowang over, and placed him next to her.
Lin Lan snorted, ignored him, and lay down on her own.
Han Qingsong: "..."
No comments:
Post a Comment